“I bumped into Eric in a club and I thought we were going to get into a fight! But he went, ‘Hello, man!’ and gave me a big hug”: Jeff Beck took the Yardbirds in a new direction, but the constant Eric Clapton comparisons took years to shake

Jeff Beck (left) and Eric Clapton perform onstage at the Drury Lane Theatre in London on September 9, 1981.

Though he turned down an offer from John Mayall to join his prestigious, often career-making, Bluesbreakers band, the late Jeff Beck still found himself, early in his career, in the shadow of the most famous Bluesbreakers alum by far, Eric Clapton.

In early 1965, Clapton had come to the Bluesbreakers from the Yardbirds, the latter of which Beck did join, as Clapton's replacement.